Posts tagged windowsphone

Microsoft's big promise with Windows 10 is its ability to run apps across the entire platform. The framework for these universal apps hasn't been described in much detail, but a post on the Windows Blog gives a bit more insight under the hood. Redmond's calling these "mobile experiences," meaning ...

It's fairly easy to locate friends and family if you have an Android or iOS device, but finding your pals with a Windows phone? Not so much, unless you come across the right third-party apps. That may not be a big challenge for much longer. Spanish site Microsoft Place has detailed an as yet unrel...

Been jonesing to see what Windows 10 looks like on smaller screens? You now have your chance. Microsoft has just released a Technical Preview of the new OS for smartphones. This extra-early version won't include the next-gen Spartan browser and still has a lot of unfinished elements, but it'll giv...

It looks like Microsoft and Samsung aren't eager to drag out their dispute over Android patent royalties. The two tech giants have reached an agreement that ends Microsoft's lawsuit over interest payments and otherwise smooths things over. The circumstances surrounding the deal are "confidential,"...

Microsoft has long wanted you to use OneDrive to store your photos, but actually viewing those photos isn't ideal -- you're ultimately using a file browser that just happens to have some photo-related features. That's going to change in the next couple of weeks, though. The folks in Redmond are ro...

Right, so, we already know that Microsoft is making sure just about everyone -- from desktop owners to Windows Phone 8.1 aficionados -- get a Windows 10 upgrade for free within the first year, and we've gotten a look at how Windows 10 has evolved since we last saw it. Now it's time for the mobile ...

After taking big swings with Windows 8 and 8.1 -- how big a miss they were is open to interpretation -- Microsoft's trying to redefine how we work with computers once more. We're going to get a much closer look at Windows 10 at 9AM PT/12PM ET tomorrow (which we'll be liveblogging, naturally), and ...

Believe it or not, Sprint hasn't had a Lumia-badged smartphone since Nokia (and now Microsoft) got into Windows phones -- you've had to go with HTC or Samsung and forgo a bunch of apps and services. You won't have that problem from now on, since Sprint just picked up the low-cost Lumia 635. It's b...

If you're a Lumia phone owner, you no longer have to get lucky (or install a preview release) just to get all of the latest Windows Phone features. Microsoft is about to start the wider rollout of Lumia Denim, a Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 upgrade that packs a lot of improvements to both imaging an...

Did you buy that big-screen Lumia phone with dreams of watching live sports while away from home? Today's your lucky day. WatchESPN has finally reached Windows Phone, giving you a way to view all the big ESPN channels and catch up through on-demand clips. You'll still have to show that you subscri...

Snapchat warned that it was clamping down on third-party apps to prevent sketchier examples from compromising your security, and it appears to be making good on its word -- much to the chagrin of Windows Phone users, who haven't had an official Snapchat option so far. Windows Central notes that 6s...

We love the idea of orientation gestures (used by Samsung, HTC and Moto phones and apps like Tasker), but they aren't natively supported on iOS, Android or Windows Phone yet. Microsoft seems ready to buck that trend with the launch of a Gestures Beta app for WP8 Lumia phones. As shown below, it'll...

Rdio has had a Windows Phone app for some time, but a sophisticated app that keeps up with its Android and iOS counterparts? That's another story. Thankfully, the streaming music service has posted a major update that takes better advantage of both Windows Phone 8.1 and Rdio's own upgrades. You no...

Microsoft's got a weird history when it comes to strategy: popular software like Office has always been best on Microsoft's own operating system, Windows. In recent years, that's begun to shift -- Office is now everywhere, including Apple and Google's tablets, and the company's apparently taking a...

After watching early footage of Microsoft's virtual assistant Cortana in Windows 10 (below), its impending takeover of the Microsoft Borg seems inevitable. There's a lot riding on Cortana, after all. After being released in the U.S. earlier this year, it's now slowly rolling out across the globe. ...

For a while, rumors were circulating that Microsoft was working on McLaren -- a successor to the Lumia 1020 with a giant camera and "3D touch" gestures. It was supposedly cancelled, but a listing for a prototype on Chinese auction site Taobao suggests that the device (or something like it) was clo...

HTC's done it. So has Sony. It's available on iOS. Even BlackBerry's got one. Apps that let you take your favorite clips and images and merge them together into a fun highlight reel aren't uncommon these days, but that's not stopping Microsoft from coming out with one of its own -- and one that it...

Windows Phone fans on Verizon haven't had many cost-conscious options; you've usually had to spring for premium devices like the Lumia Icon or One M8 for Windows. Thankfully, that high-priced status quo might not last much longer. A variant of Microsoft's budget-minded Lumia 735 has passed through...

You probably know to keep backups of your smartphone's data in the cloud, but backing up everything can be an expensive proposition in an era when 128GB phones are a practical reality. That won't be quite as much of a sore point now that iDrive's new Unlimited Mobile Backup option is here. As the ...

BlackBerry isn't shy about borrowing features to keep BBM relevant in the messaging world; it added stickers to challenge WhatsApp, and now it's taking a page from Snapchat's book. The latest version of BBM introduces a timed messaging feature that lets you determine when messages and photos expi...